You are here

AI Reports on Myanmar’s ‘Heinous Crimes’ Against Rohingya

In a report published on Wednesday, human rights group Amnesty International said Myanmar's security forces had surrounded villages, shot fleeing inhabitants, set buildings alight and burned to death the elderly and those unable to flee.

"In this orchestrated campaign, Myanmar's security forces have brutally meted out revenge on the entire Rohingya population of northern Rakhine State, in an apparent attempt to permanently drive them out of the country. These atrocities continue to fuel the region's worst refugee crisis in decades," said Tirana Hassan, Crisis Response Director at Amnesty International, DW reported.

The Myanmar security forces started a campaign in late August to 'pacify' unrest in the predominantly Muslim northern state of Rakhine. Myanmar's government has said it was responding to attacks by Muslim insurgents. The United Nations has said the response was disproportionate and "textbook ethnic cleansing."

Systematic Murder, Rape, Burning

Amnesty's most detailed study yet of the ongoing crisis reported that over 530,000 Rohingya men, women and children have fled Rakhine State in terror "in a matter of weeks amid the Myanmar security forces' targeted campaign of widespread and systematic murder, rape and burning."

For the report, Amnesty interviewed over 120 Rohingya who fled when Myanmar security forces began a campaign against Rohingya villages on August 25.

Amnesty's Hassan said: "Exposing these heinous crimes is the first step on the long road to justice.

Those responsible must be held to account; Myanmar's military can't simply sweep serious violations under the carpet by announcing another sham internal investigation. The commander-in-chief, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, must take immediate action to stop his troops from committing atrocities."

The report describes how Myanmar's security forces carried out a "systematic, organized and ruthless campaign of violence against the Rohingya population as a whole in northern Rakhine State, after a Rohingya armed group attacked around 30 security posts on 25 August.”